Think Business Advisors

Start-up Business Funding – Should You Borrow from Family and Friends?

It’s an exciting time when you’re starting or working on growing a business, but with that excitement often comes the stress of coming up with the money to make your goals a reality.

When you’re faced with any sort of significant need in life, it’s natural to first gravitate to the people who are closest to you, most likely your family or close friends. Likewise, these people naturally want to be there for you and show their support.  When looking for investors for a business venture, it most likely will feel more comfortable to communicate with friends and family about the investment.

The idea works well in our personal lives, but when it comes to business, you may want to consider another direction and here is why:

• If you allow close personal contacts to invest, it can add an unnecessary burden to your plate. As we all know, business is a risk and funding for the business could be lost. You will then have to shoulder the responsibility of how this might affect your acquaintances finances.
• Outside investors analyze numbers, ask incredibly difficult questions that challenge your strategy and make decisions that are best for the business relationship. They invest knowing there is a risk and can lose the investment. Can you make good business decisions based on the personal relationship? Do they invest their money with the thought that it can be lost? It’s all about setting proper expectations.
• Finally, owning a business is tough enough. Maintaining a balance between business and personal lives is something that we are constantly striving for.  Adding the pressure of protecting not only your money, but your friends and families money can bring on a set of new problems and challenges that take your focus away. You need to constantly be looking for ways to streamline your business, stay focused on your strategy and identify opportunities that help you achieve your business goals.

So if you don’t go to family or close friends for investment, where do you go?

The most successful type of investors and the type that you want to achieve are not emotionally attached to the business. Business investors ask difficult questions and will have professional expectations for a return on their investment.  When seeking potential investors, you need to effectively communicate and convince them that your business is a lucrative opportunity for their portfolio.  It’s a difficult task and not something easily achieved, but for both you and the investors, it will be the most rewarding.

Owning a business is tough and there is serious risk involved. Leveraging outside advisors and investors can provide you with different perspectives, expertise, opportunities and most of all, expands your network. It’s usually a good idea to seek investors with business experience and no personal attachment.

Fischer Sports PR Event

Today we’d like to shed some light on a recent and most successful event that we coordinated with one of our esteemed clients, Fischer Sports. The event was the facility’s first annual “Service Appreciation Day” that was held in honor of the local police and fire departments. Together with the staff at Fischer Sports we held an amazing event to thank the local police and fire personnel for their service to the community.

A little background: Fischer Sports is one of our current clients that we are advising here at THINK. Together we hosted a day of family fun, showing our appreciation to the local police and firefighter heroes. As an added plus, the event also allowed us to increase local awareness in the community, and demonstrate the services that Fischer Sports provides. Fischer Sports is a facility that offers both conditioning programs and specialized training for professional athletes, but also state of the art physical therapy to both athletes and the general public. While the professional athlete training side is doing well, THINK is also excited to help expand the physical therapy side of the business with Fischer Sports.

And so we proceeded by inviting all the current physical therapy clients of Fischer Sports and their families, as well as the local SWAT team, police, and firefighters of the community. For those who don’t know, these are professions that often have officers in need of quality physical therapy. By inviting them to the event we were able to show our appreciation, as well as showcase Fischer’s amazing facility and staff as well as its unique aspect of offering the opportunity to recuperate alongside the pros using cutting edge physical therapy techniques.

Much to our delight, the day was a huge success! We had a great showing and many signed up to be contacted regarding their physical therapy. We even had a few of Fischer’s professional athlete clients drop by to say hello, including Sam Acho of the Arizona Cardinals, and free agent Leonard Davis. Some other highlights included a (healthy) cookout (can’t host a good time without food!), an obstacle course set up on Fischer’s NFL indoor training field turf, fire trucks, and SWAT armored vehicles for everyone’s enjoyment. For the more adventurous guests, we even had the option of trying on the Phoenix SWAT team’s gear to get a feel for being a SWAT member in action. We also held a raffle throughout the day keeping things lively. Some of the hot prizes given away were autographed footballs by Fischer’s NFL players, an AZ Cardinals basket full of team items, a Chase Utley autographed baseball, and Core Health Product supplements. Last but not least, Fischer’s supporting partners Muscle Milk, Core Health Products, and Sullivan PROformance all made guest appearances making for a great event at the facility.

All in all it was a fun and productive day. Here at THINK we love supporting our clients and are proud to have been an honorary part of the Fischer Sports team that day. We look forward to more events like this with Fischer Sports in the future!

Business Advising on Television

I am a huge fan of a TV show on the Food Network called Restaurant Impossible. The episodes portray famed Chef Robert Irvine helping struggling restaurant owners with a dramatic turnaround of menu, décor, and management. With only 48 hours and a $10,000 budget, this man makes miracles happen. Chef Irvine possesses the perfect attitude for such a massive under taking with his strong focus and high expectations. He has the recipe and tools to accomplish the goal of turning a restaurant around. It’s great television. A savvy expert swoops in to help those who might otherwise flounder. What’s not to love?

However, I think the show is actually overlooking one vital ingredient. Time. Time is essential for both creating change, and making it stick. These struggling restaurants need time to incorporate their newly acquired knowledge of delivery, marketing and management. They need time to gain acceptance in the market and really comprehend the changes being made to their operations. They need time to learn how to use the tools they have been given. In order for change to be successful, the company has to believe in what they are doing and consciously choose to be a part of that change. If not, it’s just a temporary fix that will be faced with ongoing challenges.

There is no question that Chef Irvine knows the restaurant industry and is positioning these restaurant owners to be successful. Possibly the best part of all is that he gives them renewed hope for their business. The problem for many of these restaurant owners is that the ideas and changes are not theirs. Chef Irvine delivers all these tools and ideas, but he does not spend any time to lead the restaurant owners to discover the problem with him. This is why it’s essential for business advisors to work alongside their clients. This helps the owners grasp the “why” of the new changes and it maintains the owners’ accountability for the changes. The goal for advisors is to be a resource to clients for overcoming challenges, and to lead these bright eyed entrepreneurs down a path to success.

Similar to the team on Restaurant Impossible, our team at Think Business Advisors shares the passion to help struggling business owners who have risked it all and need some assistance to get back on track. We work with all types of businesses that are in various stages of growth. When we come across a business that is in trouble and possibly failing, it becomes personal for us. Business owners who are working to build their business, giving it 110%, and not succeeding, these are the people that Think Business Advisors wants to reach out to and help them achieve their greatest potential.

Making changes in a business is not an easy undertaking for business owners, but when implemented properly, risks are mitigated and options are created; businesses are positioned to reach their goals.

I hope Chef Irvine keeps giving these business owners hope and opportunity to live their dreams. This is what we too strive for at Think Business Advisors.

Steve Haase
Owner/Partner

Its not a job, it’s a lifestyle!

We meet with business owners on the daily basis to discuss their businesses. During those conversations the focus is usually on how we can help them “fix” their business, save it from failing, assist with a merger or acquisition or how to create and implement a growth plan that helps build some future security.

This is what we do at Think B.A. and we love doing it.  Are you doing what you love?

That’s a question in my head whenever we meet with a business owner for the first time.  I want to know if it’s in their DNA to be an entrepreneur and if they are passionate about what they do, or if it’s more of a burden and something they feel trapped in or obligated to do.  Knowing that information will determine our approach when working with them and a major indicator of future success.

People do not realize that power behind being passionate about something.  When I see someone passionate about something or someone, I see a person that is committed, working hard and making sacrifices. Three things every entrepreneur better have if they want to run a successful business. Lets reiterate this:

Commitment – Work Ethic – Sacrifice

As we meet with different businesses, I think people still look at owning a business as a way to cut their hours, make more money and be the “boss”.  When in reality, you have to work more hours than ever before and not stop until the work is done.  More often than not, you make less money than you would if you worked as an employee doing your skill. Finally being the “boss” is not what its all cracked up to be.  If you started a business because you were in pursuit of a selling what your good at doing, you quickly find out that you spend more time being a boss and dealing with issues that have nothing to do with your actual service or product.  These are the realizations that I see business owners having and they find themselves struggling because their expectations were not set properly.  Now they have rent, employees, operating costs and sales/marketing issues. In many situations this is when advisors like us are called in to help re-structure, assess and fix the business for them. Basically get them on the right track again.

I don’t want to see that.  That’s why I am here to tell you, about hard work and proper preparation.  It’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.

This is not to scare you, but rather prepare you and set the proper expectations, so you have every chance possible of building a successful business. I can tell you that it’s an amazing lifestyle and more rewarding than I have ever dreamed it to be.

Who do you answer to?

I have been focused on accountability lately and how people react to it. In general, I think people ( at least goal oriented people) want to be held accountable otherwise why wake up everyday? Its a measurement of how they are performing. It gives people a sense of responsibility and respect, which most of us need to feel in our lives. Responsibility and respect are not free though, they are earned. I believe that being an accountable person helps gain the responsibility we desire and the respect we earn.

I am fortunate, I own a business with a very dynamic business partner and we naturally hold each other accountable. I can’t imagine our business being as successful as it is,  if we did not trust each other to complete the tasks at hand. We both feel accountable to the other.  I this its one of the perks of having a business partner.  Then I think about the business owners that do not have a partner or have a partner(s) but do not communicate with that partner effectively and I bet it can feel pretty lonely out there.

We constantly communicate with our clients to make sure that they are effectively using their time to meet their personal and business goals. More than the business experience  we offer our clients, its the check in’s and conversations over a beer that matter the most. Its the conversation about issues they can’t solve or new ideas they want to implement or just time to “vent”  frustrations where I think we really move a business. Its during those types of conversations we try and help business owners grow as a person and an entrepreneur. We all need a “shrink”, a management team, a personal board of directors where we can be vulnerable and open.  That’s when we create an opportunity to learn and grow.

So consider this blog a check in. I am holding you accountable today.

• Are you checking off the tasks on your lists?
• Have you handled those “not so easy” situations?
• Are you handling your responsibilities?

Let me know how your doing and if you need some one to talk to, we’re listening!

Good luck.

Where is the business?

We are nearing the mid point of the 2nd quarter of the calendar year and the question is, how is my business doing in 2011 so far?

In December and January most of us are making lists, building plans and setting our goals for the year. Some of us put it on big flip charts for everyone to see, some of us email it out to the employees and some hold meetings and the group involved. However you do it, the point is you did and your thinking forward. Great job!

Wait. February and March come around and you are closing up things from the prior year.  Vendors are knocking at your door, trying to get a piece of that new spend you have. Employees are falling into their routines after the new year excitement. The Packers win the Super Bowl, kids want to go to Disney for Spring Break and there were 2 or 3 conferences that had to be attended to really help kick off the year. April comes and now you have to catch up on emails, meetings and projects/sales due for the 1st quarter that you are behind on.  Sound familiar?

Its May, SHOOT! Where has the year gone? Time is flying. My list keeps growing.

How do you keep from getting to this point?  Check in with the plan, pull it out and do weekly reviews of it. Make the adjustments and involve all ares of the business, so everyone is working toward the same goals.  Use the metrics you set and measure. Most of all, have faith in the plan and stay with it. You created it, you know your business and where you want it to go. Stay confident in your plan. If you are, nor are they.

Before you know it the half way point of the year will be here and it will be exponentially harder to catch up to your goals and recover from a slow start. Sit down today to evaluate, adjust and execute.

Keep Thinking!

Steve

The Start

Welcome to the THINK Business Advisors blog. Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy reading future posts.

THINK Business Advisors is a small, elite firm with a very distinct focus on small business and entrepreneurs. We have a passion to create and help people achieve their goals, professionally and personally.

Unlike corporations that staff each department with experienced individuals to run a specific function, small business owners have to absorb most if not all those responsibilities. When you take that into account, how can they concentrate on growing their business? We find that most small business owners are so wrapped up in their business, they do not have the time to work on their business. THINK was created to help them through that.

At THINK, we love to help others realize their potential and reach their goals. To do that, people need to expand their minds, learn from experience, accept change, look outside their business and biases and have the willingness and commitment to grow. At THINK we are committed and passionate about helping small business owners through this self evolution and to find all the potential their business has.

Our vision for THINK, is to be a compass that guides small business.

We plan on using this venue on a regular basis as a place to express opinions, share experiences from our work and lessons we have learned from our clients, mentors and friends. If there is ever a post that you want to comment on, we welcome your thoughts.

We look forward interacting with you as we explore this path.

Keep thinking about it!